


Present Tense

by thisiscyrene



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Multiverse, Mutual Pining, mythicalsecretsanta2017, rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-18 10:54:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13098597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisiscyrene/pseuds/thisiscyrene
Summary: They’re in each other’s physical spaces more than ever before, and while that has come with its difficulties, Rhett continues to sink into the comfort of having Link by side. He feels like he’s close to having what they have together in those other universes, closer than he’s ever gotten.“We’re probably married,” he starts. “To each other of course.”





	Present Tense

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rhinkipoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhinkipoo/gifts).



> This was written for the Mythical Secret Santa gift exchange over on Tumblr. First time writing anything that's not pure smut, please go easy on me!
> 
> The title is unabashedly stolen from the [Radiohead](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hgVihWjK2c) song of the same name. I didn't write this meaning for it to fit, but somehow it did. I recommend giving the song a listen while you read.

The first time Link asks Rhett to tell him about the multiverse he thinks he’s joking. He’d been uninterested in Rhett’s ramblings up until that point, even mocking at times. That night they’re on vacation, out camping with their boys who had gone to sleep hours ago. Link speaks up, the stern tone of his voice startles him, he sounds almost angry, and asks Rhett to tell him about a universe where they’re _together_. 

Rhett hesitates, not sure what Link is playing at. Whether this is a way for Link to poke fun at him, maybe meant as payback for something Rhett did or said that bothered him earlier that day. But Link isn’t laughing, he’s frowning thoughtfully at the campfire, eyes far away and reflecting the burning embers as he waits.

So Rhett tells him. He’s thought about it himself. Of course he has. But he feels unimaginably awkward voicing it out loud for the first time, unwilling to let on just how deeply he’d thought about the hundreds of different universes where he and Link are a couple. He starts and stops a dozen times before settling on giving out vague descriptions of themselves in another universe.

“We’re probably married,” he starts. “To each other of course.” With that addendum he sneaks a sideways glance at Link, still sitting across from him, eyes fixated on the burning coals of their fire. He takes the silence as permission to continue. In that hypothetical universe almost everything is the same, he says, they still grew up in Buies Creek, still went to college together, built a career around YouTube. The only difference is at the end of the day, they go home together. In the same car. To the same home. _Together_ together.

Link listens in silence before getting up with a short “Mmmh,” hummed under his breath. He lets himself into his tent, the one he’s sharing with his boys, without another word. Rhett sits, a little shell-shocked, a little worried that maybe none of that was actually what Link wanted. Maybe the right answer was to say that no matter what the universe, they were nothing more than friends. 

He douses the campfire and crawls into his own tent in the pitch dark.

 

 

But Link asks him again, weeks later and completely unprompted. And then it becomes a regular occurance. He wouldn’t ask often, maybe they’d go weeks, months, even a whole year, and Rhett would feel like the air had been squeezed out of his chest each time. He’d always study Link’s face, take note of the far away look in his eyes, the uncharacteristic silence from his normally chatty best friend. And then Rhett would talk. 

He gets more confident each time, willing to say more. Each time he’d describe a new universe, and the stories would get more vivid. The details of their lives together coming together in bright, firing colors. So real that the two of them could almost _taste_ it. And that’s always how it goes, Rhett talks and Link listens.

He’d tell Link about their first kisses. A different first time for each new universe. It would happen down by the Cape Fear river. Maybe after drinking too much homemade strawberry wine, holding hands under the stars. Other times it would happen after one of Rhett’s basketball games, tucked away behind the gymnasium. Or on the field during one of Link’s soccer games, in front of the entire school. 

Rhett would talk about how their relationship would be received by their parents, their church, their community. Sometimes they’d sneak around, or they’d run away from home, to a city more understanding than their own small town. Or sometimes, best of all, they would live in a world where they didn’t have to hide, where a relationship like theirs wasn’t out of the ordinary, where they were doing nothing wrong by loving each other.

And each time Link would open up, the far away look in his eyes would soften. They’d sit a little closer together, not quite near enough to touch. He’d laugh at some of the ridiculous scenarios Rhett would come up with, or snort at something embarrassingly cliche. But no matter how much Rhett would talk, how many new universes he offered, Link would listen without speaking a word. 

 

 

Rhett starts imagining them _together_ in their daily lives, outside of those late night talks. No longer content just to imagine other universes, he begins retreating into daydreams inside his head, projecting them onto their real-life interactions. Rhett knows he’s stepping into dangerous territory, that he’s taking it too far. He can’t help it though. Can’t help noticing how they must look to other people, the ones who don’t know them. He starts standing a little closer to Link when they’re out in public, just because he can. 

It’s the tumultuous year that entails the release of their book, a nationwide live tour, the filming and release of another season of Buddy System, and the stress of unveiling a new format for GMM that forces them even closer together. They’re in each other’s physical spaces more than ever before, and while that has come with its difficulties, Rhett continues to sink into the comfort of having Link by side. He feels like he’s close to having what they have together in those other universes, closer than he’s ever gotten. 

 

 

Amidst the chaos and the closeness, Link stops dyeing his hair and Rhett turns 40. They joke about getting old, but they really know they’re both more than a little self-conscious about it. One day in the middle of the studio, discussing filming with Link and the crew, Rhett’s struck with it: _it’s too late for them_. That vague feeling of hope he’d held in his chest since he was a teenager feels like it’s been sucked out of his body. He wants to choke.

When he excuses himself from the room, he feels Link’s eyes follow him to the door. 

That evening they sit in Link’s car, ready to carpool home for the night and Rhett feels it coming. Link wants to ask Rhett to talk about them together in another life, another universe. Rhett cuts him off before he can get the first syllable out.

“We never stood a chance, did we?” he asks quietly, studying Link’s face.

Link sits contemplating, and Rhett thinks maybe he isn’t going to answer him. That’s ok, because he already knows the answer. But Link sucks in a shaky breath and answers with a firm “No, Rhett. We didn’t. Not here, anyway.” 

_Not in this universe_ , Rhett thinks.

Link looks him in the eye and offers a small crooked smile before he picks up again. “So tell me about our wedding day.” 

 

 

They use the show as an opportunity to be physically affectionate with one another. Brushing hands, making playfully suggestive innuendos, inviting segments with more physical contact than ever before. If either one of them is thinking “ _This is as close as we’ll ever be able to get_ ,” neither of them is saying it out loud.

 

 

Once the tour starts they find themselves even more closely intertwined. Privacy and physical space cease to exist. It proves to be difficult, but in many ways they embrace it. In each city they spend time together, visiting tourist attractions, planting signed copies of their book into bookstores, being silly together on social media. It doesn’t take much for them to imagine themselves out together on dates. As lovers or husbands. Out to dinner at a cheesesteak place in Philly, walking side-by-side through Times Square in New York City, or running around together at a WalMart in Dallas. 

Rhett loves the huge tourist spots the best, where he and Link can blend in with the crowd. Two faces in a sea of other people. Other families, _other couples_. He and Link pose for pictures together, they make videos for instagram, all smiles and beaming faces. When he feels other people watching the two of them standing close together and giggling into their phone camera, he makes sure to flash his wedding ring somewhere in the vicinity of Link’s, hoping that it looks like what _he_ thinks it looks like. 

They’re tired, sure. Exhausted even. They miss their families, of course they do. But each new tour stop brings them a new opportunity to spend time together. Each new city like a new universe in a continuum of endless possibilities. With each stop they grow bolder. They sit closer together on the plane, leaning their shoulders together in car rides, letting their touches linger for longer. 

Something new is growing, and it feels good. 

 

 

When Link cautiously suggests they take separate family vacations over Thanksgiving break, Rhett agrees. But despite denying it, he can’t help but feel a little bit hurt that Link suggests they vacation at separate resorts in Mexico. So he packs his own family off to Hawaii instead. He has a great vacation, happy to spend much-needed time with his wife and kids, but he can’t help but let his mind drift to Link. Imagining the two of them hiking around the beauty of an active volcano, hand in hand on a warm Hawaiian night. 

He feels guilty about it.

 

 

Rhett can feel himself fidgeting, knows that it must be obvious. It’s gonna be obvious when the video goes up. When Link talks about his vacation and the time he spent with his own family, away from Rhett, on their podcast, he becomes hyper-aware of everyone else in the room. He messes with his beard, picks at his fingernails, smooths his palms across the desk. Everyone in the room is looking at him, studying his reaction. 

They’re not really, he knows, but he still can’t shake the burning feeling in his chest. 

 

 

The last tour stop is in their home state, a homecoming. All of their family from across North Carolina pack into the theater. Rhett is nervous, they both are, but the show goes by without a hitch and just like that, they’re done. The tour is over. Weeks of stressful travel itineraries and rushed rehearsals are behind them. The times spent goofing off across the country with Link are already beginning to feel like a distant memory. 

It’s afterward, after the fan meetings and after the crowds have cleared out that Rhett and Link are left in the lobby of the theater with their family members. Their parents, uncles and cousins, in-laws and extended family members, all swarming around them, congratulating them, giving kisses and hugs.

It’s then that Rhett lets his imagination wander. This is what it might be like, he chances to think, maybe in another universe, at the reception of his and Link’s wedding. It feels like what a wedding reception might have been, with both sides of their families coming together, everyone beaming and happy and oh-so proud, congratulating them, celebrating their relationship together.

Suddenly Rhett doesn’t feel so tired anymore.

 

 

They opt to stay in a hotel in Durham rather than going home with family. It’s because they have an early flight the next morning, they say. And despite the fact that they booked separate hotel rooms for themselves, Rhett finds himself lounging on Link’s bed, flipping through the channels on tv while Link showers. He and Link had been attached at the hip since this whole thing started, not that they weren’t already throughout the entirety of their lives. But this new feeling between them bubbling just beneath the surface that the tour has brought along? Rhett isn’t ready to let that go just yet.

So when Link emerges from the bathroom in fresh pajamas, towling the last of the moisture from his newly cut hair, Rhett pats the side of the bed in invitation. They sit in companionable silence for nearly an hour, and Rhett is sure that Link has dozed off when he hears him speak up.

“Tell me about our life together. As 40 year old men,” Link asks. 

And Rhett expected it, was waiting for it. Somehow he has the feeling that this is the last time he’s gonna hear Link ask him for this. To hear about all the lives they’ve shared together in those other universes. So he talks. He tells Link about the life they live together. A home by the beach with their dogs, they go surfing every weekend, sometimes even on weekdays before heading into the studio. Rhett cooks, and Link tries the new things Rhett makes without complaint. This earns him a snort and a light smack to the arm, but Link lets his hand linger just a few seconds longer, and Rhett feels his fingertips like they’re burning holes through the sleeve of his button down shirt.

Rhett goes on, filling Link in on every minute detail of their domestic life. It’s always this way, Rhett talking endlessly while Link listens in silence. Rhett’s going on about Egyptian cotton sheets in the guest bedroom when Link speaks up.

“We have a daughter,” he says, voice strong with conviction. Rhett’s head snaps around so fast he feels it in his neck, eyes wide as he sees Link staring right back at him, blue eyes sparkling and jaw set tight. 

“We have a daughter and she’s everything to us,” Link continues. Rhett feels like he’s exhaled all of the air from his lungs, muscles going slack and vision blurring as Link begins to tell him about her. He keeps his eyes fixed on Link’s face as he talks, as he tells him about a universe where they’re fathers to a daughter with dark hair and green eyes that change colors in the sunlight. One who loves camping and isn’t afraid of bugs. A daughter who puts her dads’ hair into pigtails and watches scary movies wrapped in blankets with them and their two dogs on the couch. As Link talks, Rhett lets his hand wander towards Link’s on the bed, just brushing the edges of their pinky fingers together. 

Once Link is satisfied, they lie still. Rhett feels his body buzzing. He feels a primal need to envelop Link’s body with is own. To absorb him into himself. To meld their cells together. He shakes the thought out of his head and stands up.

“Goodnight, Link,” there’s sadness in his bones, but it doesn’t sound in his voice. He’s happy, really. Happy to know that Link thought about this _thing_ they had going as much as he did. Link’s still watching him as Rhett makes his way to the door. 

With his hand on the doorknob he’s struck thinking back to Link’s eyes from moments ago, clear blue and boring into his own. That far away look that had always been there during these conversations had been gone. Link was here, grounded in the present. In _their_ universe. So Rhett turns around and walks back to him.

He and Link stand before each other in silence. The air feels heavy around them until finally, Link speaks. It’s quiet, but he sounds sure of himself.

“Tell me about the universe where you kiss me for the first time, in a hotel room on the last night of the tour.”

Rhett steps forward, closes the distance between the two of them and takes Link’s face in shaky hands. His voice comes out hoarse, a barely-there, scratchy whisper when he says, “I can show you,” and he kisses him. He leans down and _kisses Link_. And Link snakes a hand up and into Rhett’s hair, pulling him in and kissing him back. 

When Rhett moves to pull away, he feels Link’s fingers tense in his hair, holding him in place. Link speaks again, lips still brushing against Rhett’s as he mouths the words.

“Tell me about the universe where you make love to me for the first time, in a hotel room on the last night of the tour.”

Rhett lets out a choked sob he didn’t even realize he had been holding in as Link stands up on his toes to kiss Rhett again. He kisses him as he tugs Rhett down by the shoulders until they’re laid out on the bed. He kisses him as he eases them both out of their shirts. He kisses him until they’re naked and wrapped up in each other beneath the hotel sheets.

Rhett lets his hands wander, feeling Link’s soft skin beneath his fingertips. It’s new but it feels familiar. At the same time it’s familiar but it’s brand new. The sight of Link’s body is nothing new to him, but the little gasps and hums coming out of his mouth are new. The way he parts his legs to let Rhett in is new. The feel of Link’s nails dragging through his hair is new. He’d made love to Link a hundred times, a _thousand_ times in other lives, in another universe. So despite the newness, this all feels familiar.

They take their time and go slow, Rhett’s big hands holding Link by the waist, or cupping his face to kiss him. He lets his fingers slide through Link’s new haircut, the short buzzed sides feeling pleasant and soft against the pads of his fingers. Meanwhile Link mouths at his neck, kissing and licking. Little tiny nips with sharp bottom teeth. He can feel Link inhaling the scent of him and it stirs something deep inside his chest. 

He feels Link come undone beneath him, and he follows soon after. It’s when they’re lying there, tangled in each other, panting and giggling, between holding back tears and letting them fall, that Rhett realizes he was right.

Link isn’t gonna ask him about those other universes, not anymore. But it’s because he doesn’t _have_ to. Everything they need is here, now, in each other. 

It always has been.

**Author's Note:**

> A million thanks to [Mythicaliz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythicaliz/pseuds/mythicaliz) for helping me out with the ending.
> 
> You can find me over on Tumblr as [killthenaughtyboy](https://killthenaughtyboy.tumblr.com/) if you're over there.


End file.
